Busch, who won his third consecutive Nationwide race at Bristol, said his car was too loose early in the race but responded to team changes.

"The track really changed from practice," Busch said. "It was entirely different — not even close. We really had to change the car today. They got me freed up where I could roll and make some speed up.

"Kenseth was really fast — lightning-fast much of the day. I was having a hard time catching him, but I was able to bide my time in traffic."

Kenseth led huge chunks of laps, including a 71-lap stretch from lap 139 to 209. He finished the day with 178 (of 300) laps led. The only other race leader was Larson, who was out front for two laps.

"We had a good car really the whole race," Kenseth said. "We kind of got picked in lapped traffic (when Busch passed for the lead on lap 210). I was being as aggressive as I could without wrecking. After that we had four or five restarts, and I was on the bottom for every one.

"I would lose two or three spots and could never get it back. I had the car to win today, and I couldn't get it done."

Bristol Motor Speedway, a high-banked half-mile that eats race cars, has been one of Busch's favorite tracks. His Saturday win was his 16th in NASCAR premier-series races at BMS (five in Sprint Cup, seven in Nationwide, four in Camping World Truck).